plastisphere
noun/ˈplæstɪˌsfɪəɹ/
Etymology From plastic + -sphere, analogous to biosphere. Coined by American biologist Linda Amaral-Zettler.
1
Biology, Ecology, Natural sciences The ecosystem on the surface of a piece of plastic (especially in a marine environment).
- ut those interested in smaller critters have been given a whole, new sphere—the plastisphere—to study.2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2020:
- (The Plastisphere is one of the many industrial-natural ecosystems that characterize the Anthropocene.) Cleaning ocean plastics, even if it were technologically possible on a scale that would make a difference, would disrupt and destroy the life we would be trying to save in the first place.2014, Marina Zurkow, The Petroleum Manga, punctum books, →DOI, →ISBN, page 24:
2 more examples
- Freshwater and marine habitats share a number of features, but there are also differences between them that may affect the development and activities of plastisphere consortia.2017, Martin Wagner, Scott Lambert, Freshwater Microplastics: Emerging Environmental Contaminants?, Springer, →ISBN, page 183:
- Plastic in the ocean is constantly being degraded; even something as big and buoyant as a milk jug will eventually shed and splinter into microplastics. These plastics develop biofilms of distinct microbial communities — the “plastisphere,” said Linda Amaral-Zettler, a scientist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, who coined the term. […] A sample of South Atlantic water containing plankton and microplastics. Ocean plastics commonly develop a filmy “plastisphere” of distinct microbial communities.2022 April 3, Sabrina Imbler, “In the Ocean, It’s Snowing Microplastics”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2022: